Coffee Talk #256: Your First Videogames

It was cool watching you guys talk about your first videogame console in yesterday’s Coffee Talk. To follow that up, I’d like to know about your first console games.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the NFL going light with player fines, President George W. Bush interviewed by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, or Christina Aguilera finding a new boyfriend (*sniff*), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

It was cool watching you guys talk about your first videogame console in yesterday’s Coffee Talk. To follow that up, I’d like to know about your first console games. What was the first console game you ever played? What was the first console game you bought with your own money?

I honestly can’t remember the first game I purchased on my own. I do remember playing Videocart-1: Tic Tac Toe, Shooting Gallery, Doodle, Quadradoodle for the Fairchild Channel F. I was completely fascinated that I could play Tic Tac Toe with something other than a crayon or a pencil. In some ways it’s funny looking back at how enamored I was with digital Tic Tac Toe. In other ways it’s amazing how far videogames have come. Going from Tic Tac Toe to Heavy Rain is quite a leap. Ha!

Now it’s your turn! What was the first console game you ever played? What was the first console game you bought with your own money?

TV Through Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7?

Microsoft is in the early stages of planning a televisions service that can be accessed through devices like its Xbox 360 gaming console. The company has been holding talks with various networks for a service that could end up being like virtual cable or a la carte cable. According to Reuters:

Microsoft Corp has held talks with media companies to license TV networks for a new online pay-television subscription service through devices such as its Xbox video game console, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters.

Microsoft is also exploring the possibility of creating content silos and selling more individual channels directly such as an HBO or Showtime. It already has Walt Disney Co’s ESPN on the Xbox Live online service for example.

This could develop into something huge and game changing. Cable and satellite companies are crap, requiring customers to buy packages containing dozens of channels, most of which are unwanted. If Microsoft sells individualchannels  — particularly premium ones like HBO — through Xbox 360 and its future consoles, I’d drop my cable service in a heartbeat. Being able to pick the channels you want would be brilliant.

Integrating the television service with Windows Phone 7 would be tremendous. Microsoft’s mobile operating system will have a difficult time catching up to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Offering premium television through Windows Phone 7 would make the battle easier.

While the service appears to be a year away — if it happens at all — it has a ton of potential. I will dream about features like a la carte channel selection and streaming HBO boxing on a phone, but I fully expect the networks to give the bare minimum.

What do you think of a potential Microsoft television service? What would you want it to have?

Source

Over Macho Grande: Remembering Leslie Nielsen

It’s a sad time for comedy fans around the world. Leslie Nielsen passed away yesterday at age 84. From Airplane! to The Naked Gun to Soul Man, Nielsen has made millions of people around the world laugh. He had a profound impact on my life, as Airplane! was one of the earliest influences on my sense of humor. Let’s celebrate Leslie Nielsen’s career by sharing our favorite quotes from his movies. Here are some of mine:

“You can’t take a guess for another two hours?”

“It’s like eating a spoonful of Drano. Sure, it’ll clean you out, but it’ll leave you hollow inside.”

“I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”

“Well, when I see five weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a man in the middle of the park in full view of a hundred people, I shoot the bastards. That’s my policy!”

“Oh, and one more thing…. I faked every orgasm!”

“It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.”

“Insensitive?! You think it’s easy displacing an entire tribe? You try!”

“I just want to tell you both good luck. We’re all counting on you.”

And of course:

This Week’s Videogame Releases

There’s not a whole lot going on this week, but if you want quality over quantity then this is a brilliant week to be a gamer. Disney’s Epic Mickey will be one of the most critically acclaimed games of the year. I’m a huge Warren Spector mark, so I hope you give the game a try. As most of you know, I’m an RPG mark as well, so I’m super psyched for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

Coffee Talk #255: Your First Videogame Console

I hope everyone had a fun, relaxing, and food-filled Thanksgiving. Let’s ease back into things by talking about the first videogame console you owned. My videogame friends span a broad age range; some of them started off with the…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the RPad.tv Cyber Monday sale, your favorite turkey leftover dish, or Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I hope everyone had a fun, relaxing, and food-filled Thanksgiving. Let’s ease back into things by talking about the first videogame console you owned. My videogame friends span a broad age range; some of them started off with the Atari 2600, while others kicked off their game lives with the Nintendo Entertainment System. How about you?

As for me, I started off with the Fairchild Channel F (and chucked a controller at my friend’s face days after opening the box). My dad brought it back home one day as a surprise. I was so young that I had no concept of videogame consoles. Being able to control what was happening on the family television was pure magic to me — just completely fascinating. For the record, I had nothing to do with my father’s purchase, so it’s really his fault that I love videogames so much. Ha!

Now it’s your turn! What was your first videogame console?

Binary Thoughts on the Young Justice Premiere

I just watched the premiere of the Young Justice on Cartoon Network. As a standalone cartoon, I thought it was great — lots of fun and quite enjoyable. As a huge fan of the Young Justice and Teen Titans comics, I had some problems with it. I’ll definitely be watching the series regularly and have high hopes for it, but I’ll have to get used to some things. Here are some binary thoughts on the premiere.

Bad: Using Earth-16 as the show’s setting gives the writers a lot of freedom. It also allows the writers to piss off fans of the mainline comics. As I mentioned earlier in the week, the show mixes elements of Young Justice and the Teen Titans books. In some cases, it takes the best of both worlds (5150). In other cases, the writers unnecessarily create new elements that will annoy comic-book fanboys (like me).

Good: The premiere was well paced, with snappy writing and fun action. The team is a good mix, with Robin providing the book smarts and Aqualad bringing calm wisdom. Kid Flash wasn’t defined well and Superboy didn’t add much (which makes sense from a storytelling perspective). I’m confident that Supes will come along, but I worry about KF being redundant (more on this later). I’m really looking forward to Miss Martian, as she’s one of my favorite characters in the current Teen Titans books…and green chicks are totally hot.

Bad: This complaint has everything to do with me being a fanboy. Although the Robin in the Young Justice cartoon is supposed to be Dick Grayson, he’s more like an amalgamation of the first three Robins. Like Dick, he has incredible acrobatic skills and reacts well in most situations. Like Jason Todd, he’s impetuous and sometimes acts without thinking things through. Like Tim Drake — one of my favorite characters over the last few years — he’s a skilled computer hacker. I really don’t like this mix. I wish the writers went with a pure version of Tim Drake; in the comics he’s the least physically powerful member of the team, but his leadership, computer skills, maturity, and intellect make him the perfect leader. In the cartoon he’s kind of an impetuous and goofy kid that can flip around and hack computers.

Good: I like the Aqualad is the smart one in the group…mostly because I like that the brown kid is the mature and logical one.

Bad: Would someone explain to me why Aqualad is brown? If he spends most of his time underwater, I don’t see how he (or his ancestors) can maintain a tan.

Good: I loved Speedy’s (Green Arrow’s sidekick) portrayal. He was excellent as the rebellious youth.

Bad: Sadly, Speedy bails 11 minutes into the show and it doesn’t look like he’ll be a regular.

Bad: What’s up with Young Justice being Batman’s covert operations team? I suppose this makes the show a mix of Young Justice, Teen Titans, and The Outsiders, but shouldn’t Bats use…I don’t know…adults for covert-ops missions?!? Perhaps Batman was watching too many episodes of 21 Jump Street when he came up with this brilliant idea.

Bad: I worry about Kid Flash being redundant. While I like that Robin and Kid Flash have a tight rapport (Dick Grayson and Wally West are best friends in the comics), they were too similar in the premiere. It made me wish that the writers used Impulse (Bart Allen) instead. Bart’s goofy innocence — kid was raised in the future in a lab and doesn’t quite understand how the world works — would have made for a more distinct character. Then again, the “not understanding the world” thing would have conflicted with Superboy (a clone) and Miss Martian (a…uh…Martian).

Even though I listed more bad things than good, I’m really looking forward to watching more Young Justice. I just have to get used to the show’s setting and the spin on characters I know so well from the comics. I’m sure it will be fun and, at the very least, I’m sure I’ll dig all the cameos by the adult heroes.

If you happened to watch the premiere, let’s talk it up! I’d love to hear your thoughts on Young Justice.

Thanksgiving Aftermath

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was completely uneventful. My immediate family is currently scattered around the world — New York, the Philippines, Thailand, and Hawaii. I totally forgot to make any plans, so I stayed home with some TV dinners and Teen Titans trade paperbacks (a Teen Titan Thanksgiving?). I’m going to live through you! Tell me about the excellent food, family, and gaming you experienced on Thanksgiving.

Please don’t forget to talk about yesterday’s games in this week’s Fantasy Football Fallout, report your Black Friday findings here, and check out Amazon’s Black Friday specials!